Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 24

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Dutchess County > Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York > Part 24

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Lewis E. Wood was born at Fishkill, No- vember 20, 1856, and was educated in the Union Free School. He attended school steadily, winters and summers, until he was eighteen years old, when he entered the em- ploy of Burrow & Wood, and after two years of work in the greenhouses he was placed in charge. This responsible position he held up to the time that he and his brothers bought the business, with the exception of two years (1879 and 1880) when he conducted a branch of the business at Newburg.

On October 21, 1877, Mr. Wood married Miss Ada Jackson, daughter of Orry and Cor- nelia (Pink) Jackson, former residents of Milan, Dutchess county, and has three children: Eugene Wesley, Frederick Morgan and Flor- ence Emily. Mr. Wood emphatically en- dorses the principles of the Republican party, but is not an active political worker.

V ER PLANCK. The first member of this lamily, of whom a definite account has been preserved, was Abraham Ver Planck, who often called himself Abraham Isaacse (or Isaacsen), meaning thereby that he was the son of Isaac. The exact date of his arrival in America is not known, some authorities claim- ing that he came previous to his marriage, which took place about 1635, and others indi- cating that he accompanied Governor Kieft in 1630. His name appears frequently in the records of the early Dutch settlers, notably in connection with the purchase of large tracts of land.

This Abraham Ver Planck married Maria Vinge Ross, and by her had a son, Gulian, born January 1, 1637, who married Hendrika Wessels; their son, Samuel, born December 16, 1668, married Ariantje Bayard; their son Gulian, born May 31, 1698, married Mary Crommelin; their son, Samuel, born Septem- ber 19, 1739, married Judith Crommelin; and their son, Daniel C., born March 19, 1762. married Elizabeth Johnson. These latter were the great-grandparents of Robert Newlin Ver- Planck, the subject proper of this biography.

Gulian Crommelin, son of Daniel C. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Ver Planck, and grand- father of Robert Newlin, was born August 6, 1786. in New York. His mother died when he was three years old. and his father having married again, he was brought up by his grand- mother, Judith Crominelin. At the age of

eleven years he entered Columbia College, and graduated in the class of 1801. Not long after he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1807, and at once took up the practice. As his leaning, however, was rather to litera- ture and politics, he devoted himself to them, abandoning the practice of law. In 1811 he married Eliza Fenno, and in 1816 they took a trip to Europe, where, in Paris, Mrs. Ver- Planck died in 1817. He subsequently vis- ited Holland, England, Scotland, etc., return- ing to New York in 1818. After this he took part in the political life of the day, and con- tributed several articles to its literature, as well as on various other subjects, all his efforts in that line exhibiting considerable ability. He was, also, a lover of art, and made a col- lection of several good paintings and engrav- ings. In 1825 he was sent to Congress as a representative from New York City, there re- maining through four successive terms, and from 1837 to 1841 he sat in the Senate of the State of New York. He then undertook what may be considered the crowning work of his literary efforts the editing of Shakespere's plays and poems-which occupied him three years. He died March 18, 1870, at his town residence in New York, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried in the cemetery of Trin- ity Church, Fishkill Village, Dutchess county. His children were William Samuel (mentioned below), and Gulian, born April 29, 1815, died ! November 19, 1845.

William Samuel, father of Robert Newlin Ver Planck, was born in New York City. Octo- ber 15. 1812. After graduating at Columbia College in 1832, he commenced studying law, and in due course was admitted to the bar; but he practiced only a short time, turning his attention to agricultural pursuits, and taking charge first of the Mount Gulian farin, and afterward of his father's farms on the Fishkill Plains. On November 17, 1837, he married Anna Biddle, third daughter of Robert and Mary ( Brown) Newlin, and eight children were born to them, as follows: (1) Eliza Fenno. born September 16, 1838, married Benjamin Richards, of New York, where they live; (2) Mary Newlin, born October 18, 1840, married Samuel W. Johnson, who died in 1881 (she is now living in New York : 3) Robert Newlin, a sketch of whom appears presently; /4 Daniel Crommelin, born April 13, 1845, died April 8, 1854; 5) Anna, born November 27, 1846, married Samuel HI. Clapp, who died in 1891

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(she is now living in Albany, N. Y.); (6) Jean- nette, born March 7, 1849, married Theodore M. Etting, of Philadelphia, where they are now living; (7) Gelyna, born January 23, 1852, married Brig .- Gen. Louis Fitzgerald, of New York, where they are now living; and (8) Will- iam Edward, born April 8, 1856, married Vir- ginia Eliza Darby, and they live at Mount Gu- lian, Fishkill-on-Hudson. The father of this family died December 23, 1885, and is buried by the side of the mother (who died May 31, 1883), in the Rural Cemetery, Fishkill. He inherited his father's love of reading, and had a very retentive memory; was a good farmer and a successful one; a thorough sportsman and an excellent shot. At the time of his death he was president of the Savings Bank, and vice-president of the First National Bank.

ROBERT NEWLIN VER PLANCK was born November 18, 1842, at the family homestead one and one-half miles north of Fishkill-on- Hudson. This old house was built in 1730 or 40 by Gulian Ver Planck, the grandson of the Gulian Ver Planck, who by royal charter ob- tained from the Indians one-third of the famous Rombout Patent, the first tract of land granted within the limits of Dutchess county. It em- braced the present towns of Fishkill, East Fishkill, and Wappinger, the western part of Lagrange, and nine thousand acres within the southern limits of the town of Poughkeepsie. February 8, 1682, Gulian Ver Planck and Francis Rombout obtained a license to pur- chase this tract from the Aborigines, the grant making the issue of a patent conditional upon a prior settlement with them, and the require- ments being met the deed was delivered, and on the 14th day of August, 1683, was recorded among the State papers at Albany. The Ver- Planck homestead was one of the principal landmarks in this section in the early days, and one of the important events which the walls of the historic mansion have witnessed was the organization of the Society of the Cincinnati, May 13, 1783, when Baron Steuben, inspector-general of the Continental army. oc- cupied the house for his headquarters, the army being then at Newburg. [See Irving's " Life of Washington," Vol. IV, Page 392, et seq. ]

Our subject was prepared for Harvard College by Otis Bisbee, of Poughkeepsie, and was graduated from that institution in 1863, at the age of twenty-one years. He immedi- ately joined the Twenty-second Regiment

N. Y. State Militia, then stationed at Carlisle, Penn., and on the return of the regiment went to Washington. On September 15, 1863, he was made second lieutenant of U. S. Volun- teers, by Gen. Silas Casey's examining board. He served as provost marshal of the Third Division, Eighteenth Army Corps, Army of the James, and participated in all the battles that were fought on the north side of the river. In the winter of 1864-65 he was made aid-de- camp to Brig .- Gen. Truman Seymour, Third Division, Sixth Army Corps, Army of the Po- tomac, and received brevet for gallant and meritorious services on April 2, 1865, when the line was broken in front of Petersburg. He was mustered out as captain June 21, 1865. On his return from the army he engaged in re- fining petroleum in Jersey City, continuing in this business from September. 1865, till the spring of 1871, when he sold out to the Stand- ard Oil Company, and took charge of his father's lands, comprising seven farms in East Fishkill.

· On February 24, 1876, Mr. Ver Planck was married to Katharine Brinckerhoff, daugh- ter of Matthew Van Benschoten and Mary (Franklin) Brinckerhoff, and they have five children, viz. : Gulian Cromelin, Judith Crome- lin, Mary Brinckerhoff, William Samuel and Robert St. Clair.

D AVID E. ACKERT, a leading merchant of Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, the senior partner of the well-known firm of Ackert & Son, is a descendant of one of the old Holland- Dutch families of the county, his great-grand- father, George Ackert, having been the owner of a farm three miles south of Rhinebeck. This property has been in the possession of the family from that time to this, and is at pres- ent held by George Ackert. George Ackert (2), our subject's grandfather, who was born about 1780, was a farmer also, and his son, William G. Ackert, born about 1809, was engaged in the same occupation early in life. His later years were spent in Rhinebeck in the employ of W. S. Cowles & Co., dealers in dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, farm implements and other commodities. He was never active in political or religious movements, and his life passed uneventfully in the careful performance of his duties. He died in 1876, and his wife, Permelia Ackert, daughter of George Ackert, passed away about 1880.

Q. E AckA

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

David E. Ackert, their only son, was born September 20, 1832, in the town of Rhinebeck, and received his early education in the public schools of his native place. At the age of fif- teen he became an errand boy for W. S. Cowles & Co., and was soon promoted to a clerkship, which he held until his purchase of the business in 1868. For the last twenty- seven years he has successfully conducted this store, one of the largest in the town dealing in dry goods, groceries and crockery. It is sel- dom that one finds such a record of fifty years of continuous effort in one enterprise. Of late years his son, Ernest Cowles Ackert, has been a partner in the firm.

In September, 1853, Mr. Ackert married Miss Mary Worden, of Rhinebeck, who died in 1883, leaving two children-the son men- tioned above and a daughter, Emma K., the wife of Charles E. Worden, of Saratoga, New York.

Mr. Ackert is a prominent member of the M. E. Church, with which he united thirty years ago, and is a constant and devout stu- dent of the Bible. He has been a Church trustee for many years, and has served as pres- ident of the board. He upholds the principles of the Republican party, but is not a political worker, although as a good citizen he is always ready to respond to any call to duty, and has been president of the village for four years, and chief of the Fire Department for five years. He is a member of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows.

C HARLES D. SHERWOOD, a leading ag- riculturist of the town of Fishkill, Dutch- ess county, is one of the younger workers in local affairs-religious, political, and social.

On the paternal side of the house, he is of English descent, his ancestors coming to this country some time during the seventeenth cen- tury and locating in Connecticut. He is of the eighth generation in descent from Thomas Sherwood and Alice Seabrook, his wife, whose son, Matthew, married Mary Fitch, and had issue, Samuel, who married Rebecca Burr. Their son Thomas married Anne Burr, and was the father of Joseph, who was born in Greenfield Hill, Conn., January 15, 1754. He served for some time as corporal and was commissioned, by Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, a lieutenant in the Twelfth Company of the Fourth Regiment, of Connecticut Militia, May 9

20, 1780. As corporal he served during the Revolution in the force detailed to reinforce Gen. Putnam, on the Hudson, during Bur- goyne's expedition, and as lieutenant in the de- fense of the Connecticut coast. [Evidence found in "Connecticut Men in the Revolu- tion;" pp. 520, 521, 576.] Mrs. John I. Platt, of Poughkeepsie, has this commission in her possession. He married Sarah Bradley, and died in Chester, N. Y., January 22, 1838. His son Samuel settled in East Fishkill, and married Ruth Du Bois. They had nine chil- dren; the youngest, Isaac, born March 25, 1826, married Mary Du Bois, June 24, 1851, and had one son.

The Du Bois family, from whom Mr. Sher- wood's mother descended, is of French-Hu- guenot origin, and one of the oldest in the State. The first of that name who emigrated to the New World was Jacques Du Bois, who was born in Leyden, France, and married Pierromie Bentyn, of the same place. They reared a family of eight children: Marie, Jacques, Marie, Jean, Anne, Jehan, Pierre and Christian.

Pierre Du Bois came with the family to America in 1675, and located at Esopus, Ul- ster Co., N. Y., but spent most of his early life in Kingston, where he married Jeannetje Burhans, October 12, 1697. In 1707 they came to Dutchess county, locating in the town of Fishkill, about three and one-half miles east of the village of that name. Here he secured a tract of land, and lived with his family. His eldest son was born in Kingston, the other children after he had moved to Dutchess county. They were as follows: Petronella (1), Johannes (1), Jacobus, Chris- tiaan, Jonathan, Peter, Abraham, Johannes (2), Helen, Elizabeth and Petronella (2). The fourth child, Christiaan Du Bois, married Nelltje Van Vliet, and they became the par- ents of three children: Jannetje, Elizabeth and Christian. The last named was born June 13, 1746, and was married in 1768 to Helena Van Voorhis, by whom he had seven children: Henry, Abraham, Garret, John, Elizabeth, Catherine and Coert.

Garret Du Bois, the fourth son, was the great-grandfather of our subject. He married Hannah Cooper, and located upon a farm near Johnsville (now the town of East Fishkill),. where they reared their family of three chil- dren: Maria, who married Peter S. Montfort, father of Peter V. W. Montfort, of the town

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was twice married, and by his first wife Eliza- beth, daughter of Abram Brinkerhoff, had five children: Catherine, who married Teunis Brinkerhoff; Jeromus; Abraham Brinkerhoff; Aletta, who married James Debevoise; Rich- ard. The sons settled at Fishkill, N. Y .. where their descendants remain.

Sixth Generation: Richard Rapalje, son of John, was thrice married, and had eleven children.

Seventh Generation: Catharine Elizabeth Rapalje, daughter of Richard, married Isaac E. Cotheal, of New York City, son of Henry and Phebe (Berrian Warner) Cotheal. They had three children: Elizabeth M., the wife of Dr. Howell White; Anne Rapalje, married to Charles D. Sherwood; and Catharine Eliza- beth, unmarried.

On the paternal side Mrs. Sherwood is de- scended from William Cotheal, whose father was a practicing physician and surgeon. came from France and located first in Con- necticut, afterward going to the City of New York, and from there to the town of Wood- bridge, Middlesex county, New Jersey.

William Cotheal married Charlotte Dove, and they had nine children; the youngest. Isaac, married Elizabeth Evans, and had two sons, Henry and David. Henry married Phebe Berrian Warner, and had six sons and four daughters. The youngest son, Isaac, married Catharine Elizabeth Rapalje, and had three daughters. 5

D ANIEL M. SHEEDY, M. D., one of the successful physicians and surgeons of the city of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, is a native of Norwalk, Conn., where his parents, Michael and Johanna (Hanlon) Sheedy, were married. The father, who was born in Kil- kenny, Ireland, was a stock farmer by occupa- tion, and he and his wife are both living. In their family were the following children: Dan- iel (deceased); Mary (deceased wife of Dr. Sweeney, of Newburgh, N. Y.); Mary Cather- ine, a Sister of Charity; Kate, wife of Law- rence Maguire; Thomas John (deceased), who was a stock farmer; Dr. B. D. Sheedy, of Bridgeport, Conn. : Daniel M., subject of this sketch, and Fannie, wife of Dr. Thomas Byrne, of Union Hill, New Jersey.

Our subject attended the public schools of Norwalk, Conn., from which he was graduated in 1885. He then began the study of medicine

with his brother, Dr. B. D. Sheedy, at North- ampton, Mass., after which he entered the New York University, graduating from the medical department with the class of 1888. He has also taken special courses under Prof. Loomis, on the heart and lungs; under Prof. Ilarry P. Loomis, on pathology; under Prof. Whithouse, ou chemistry; and under Prof. Wright, on surgery. After his graduation he was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society, and also holds membership with the Dutchess County Medical Society. At the present time (spring of 1897), he is taking spe- cial studies at the Post-graduate Hospital, New York City.

On August 6, 1888, Dr. Sheedy arrived in Poughkeepsie, where he established an office at his present place of business, and has built up a large and lucrative practice. He is an ex- tremely busy and successful practitioner, and stands high among his professional brethren. In 1890 he made a trip to Europe, which was mostly for pleasure, though he gave some time to study. In his religious views the Doctor is a Roman Catholic, belonging to St. Mary's Church, Poughkeepsie. On April 28, 1897, he was married to Miss Agnes Kelly, a graduate of Lyndon Hall, 1896, the only daughter of Timothy G. Kelly, a successful business man of Poughkeepsie, New York.

A NNA C. IIOWLAND), M. D., who is suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of med- icine in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, is a native of the Pine Tree State, born in the town of Hallowell, Kennebec county, where she spent her girlhood, and in the public schools and seminaries of that county acquired an ex- cellent education. Her father, Henry Cole, who was born at Vassalboro, was a well-edu- cated man, a county squire and a representa- tive to the State Legislature of Maine. He engaged in teaching many years, then in the manufacture of blocks for stamping oil cloth. Ile is now deceased, and his widow is making her home with her daughter, our subject. She bore the maiden name of Esther Pope, and is the daughter of Elijah Pope, a native of Port- land, Maine, and an architect and ship carpen- ter by occupation. Our subject is the eldest of three children, and the only survivor, her two sisters, Sarah and Mary, being now de- ceased.

While attending the Quakers' yearly meet-

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ing school at Providence, R. 1., Anna Cole met William H. Howland, who was there at- tending school, and afterward became his wife. their wedding being celebrated at Hallowell, Maine, in 1855. At that time he was engaged in teaching at Nine Partners Boarding School. near Millbrook. Dutchess Co., N. Y., where they removed, and there lived for about six years. Giving up that profession, Mr. How- land began business at Highland, U'ister Co., .N. Y., where they remained for four years. coming. in 1805, to Poughkeepsie. The fol- lowing year the wife entered the New York Medical College for women, from which she graduated two years later. As Mr. Howland died in 1869, she at once began practice in order to educate her four children: Edward Cole, who is now the Washington correspond- ent of the New York Press: Katherine Flint, who makes her home with her mother: Henry Cole, on the editorial staff of the Mail and Express : and Anna Inman, wife of William Chaning Russel, Jr .. city editor of the Phila- delphia Record, whose father was vice-presi- dent of Cornell University.

In 1868 Dr. Howland entered upon her career as a physician in Poughkeepsie, where she remained until 1886, when she removed to Philadelphia, Penn., practicing there as an examining physician for five years. In De- cember. 1891. however, she returned to Poughkeepsie, where she has since continued to follow her chosen profession, and has secured a large and lucrative practice. She belongs to the Homeopathic school, and in connection with her extensive office practice conducts a private hospital at her residence. For many years she has been secretary of the Dutchess County Homeopathic Medical Soci- ety, and is also a prominent member of the Homeopathic State Medical Society. The place she has won in the medical profession is accorded her in recognition of her skill and ability, and the place which she occupies in the social world is due to her many noble traits of character, and the love and confidence which she always inspires. She is a conscientious and earnest Christian. a faithful member of Christ Church.

G EORGE MORGAN was born July 16. 1816, at Chatham, Columbia county. N. Y. His father, William Morgan, a farmer and clothier from Hartford, Conn .. had re-

moved, in 1819, to Salisbury, in the same State, where the early years of George Mor- gan's life were passed, working on the farm in summer. and improving the few months of schooling during the winter time.

The history of American manhood points unerringly to the fact that while an education thus obtained is usually meager, it is neverthe- less valuable: for while he who obtains it may lack the exquisite polish which much learning is supposed to give, yet he is often better equipped in the true elements of knowledge than are they who enjoy large opportunities, but are devoid of the industry which the ab- sence of wealth enlivens.

At the age of seventeen the subject of this notice, with the money earned by him at hard work under summer sun and wintry blasts, paid his tuition and board for three months attendance at Wilbraham Academy, Mass. ; and at the end of this time, by sawing wood and doing various other odd items of work, he actually paid his way for another term.

What a commentary we find here on the possibilities which surround the young men and women of this, the greatest and grandest government on earth, where it is decreed that individual merit only is the standard of per- sonal distinction. The corner stone of the American Republic is squared and cemented with the declaration that all are equal, and that there is no royal road to learning, honor, or success.

His school days ended, Mr. Morgan came to Pine Plains, Dutchess Co., N. Y., and en- tered upon a clerkship in a country store, re- ceiving for his services the munificent sum of forty cents per day. But perseverance and economy overcome all obstacles in the road to success, and at the age of thirty years he had accumulated $20.000. He married his first wife at about this time, and engaged in busi- ness in New York City, only to realize the loss ot nearly the whole of his fortune. About the year 1846 he removed to Columbia county, where he purchased a farm and again went to work. In 1848 he was elected a justice of the peace, holding the office for a term of years. In IS :; he leased the Dakin ore mine. in Dutchess county, for which he paid a heavy rent, and afterward bought the property. Soon afterward he sold the mine to C. S. Maltby, of New Haven, Conn .. for $100.000. In November, 1864, he removed to the city of Poughkeepsie, where he invested $40,000

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in government bonds. Then came the real- estate wave, and he was carried along with it, the prices running high. He purchased the " Morgan House " and the College Hill prop- erty, for which latter he paid $33, 500. He also bought the Swift farm. In looking over his farm he discovered several natural springs, and concluded by excavating the ground and damming it a lake could be formed, and to-day "Morgan lake," situated in the suburbs fur- nishes the city with pure spring water ice. It mnight appropriately be styled a sparkling monument to his memory.

On September 21, 1879, the carthly life of Senator George Morgan was brought to a close. To-day he sleeps among his kindred in the cemetery at Pine Plains, in the county of his adoption, and for whose material interests he had so nobly contended; his memory cher- ished by a grateful people whose pride is cen- tered in his manliness, honesty, courage and fidelity.

In 1869 Mr. Morgan was chosen by the people as mayor of the city of Poughkeepsie, bc- ing the first Democrat ever called to that posi- tion; and at the general election in November of that year he was elected a member of the New York State Senate from the Eleventh District, including Dutchess county, defeating his Republican opponent, Jonathan Rider, by a majority of 187. The same district two years before had elected a Republican by over 700 majority.

At about this time is to be recorded one of the grandest achievements in the life of George Morgan. The question of locating the Hudson River Hospital for the Insane was to be de- cided. The representative men of the coun- ties of Orange, Ulster and Columbia were "leaving no stone unturned " to secure the site for their respective counties. The Dutchess county board of supervisors was in session, and Mayor Morgan was anxious that they should offer inducements for the State officers to locate the building in his county. Finally a proper sum was agreed upon, but at the even- ing session it was voted down by one majority. All the next day Senator Morgan and others worked hard to change the vote, and at 6:00 P. M. the question once more came before the board, and was carried by one majority. There was no time to lose. The State commission- ers were to meet at Newburgh, Orange coun- ty, that very night to settle the matter of loca- tion. With a party of friends Mr. Morgan

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 24

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354